Sneezes
by love-and-truthiness
Summary: Ah, the power of a kiss and a girl's imagination. This story features Edward and Winry as children, before Trisha's death. Now Complete!
1. Chapter 1 The Incident

**I don't own _Fullmetal Alchemist_.**

**WARNING: Contents may contain an inordinate amount of cheesy material. Do not read if you are lactose intolerant.**

Trisha Elric had a long-standing rule when it came to sibling fights. If one brother should hurt the other's feelings, he must apologize. If the offending brother caused tears, he must hug and kiss the other.

Perhaps, then, that's what drove Edward Elric to hug and kiss his best friend that morning. He didn't intend to make her cry; his mind just seemed to evade him, as it often did of late when he was in the company of this particular girl.

Ed had chased her upstairs, because she teased him.

"Why are you chasing me, Shorty?" she said.

"Shorty? DON'T CALL ME SHORT!" Ed picked up his pace. "And you know why!"

Winry turned around and the two stopped running. She put her hands on her hips. "Oh," she said, standing outside her room, "Is it because I called you an _Alchemy Geek_?" She poked Ed in the chest.

"Alchemy Geek!" she called.

Ed did not tolerate insults very well, at the ripe old age of nine. He pushed Winry half out of frustration, and half out of wanting to feel her hair. But he'd forgotten that they were two feet from the staircase. Winry promptly lost her footing and fell down a whole flight of steps. Ed didn't anticipate her falling so quickly, or so hard. The accident emitted a great noise, but Ed wasn't sure if that noise was a product of Winry's anger, or the creak of the step below her.


	2. Chapter 2 The First Sneeze

**A/N: Wow, Pinako is pretty rude (at least in Winry's dreams!) She really needs to lay off the smoking.**

He stood, paralyzed momentarily. However, the second he saw her eyes well up, he flew down the stairs to her and gathered her in his arms. He cooed an apology in her ear, and kissed her on the cheek.

In an instant, he became conscious of his actions. He apologized again and fled the situation, his cheeks tinted red.

Winry sat on the step, her hand on her cheek.

* * *

The rest of the day sped by in a blur to Winry.

Pinako Rockbell tucked Winry into bed as usual, and turned the lights off. Winry couldn't fall asleep, though. Winry's brain felt like a video. She played and replayed, paused and rewound the kiss in her mind. Since when do boys kiss girls like that? Who told him he could do such a thing?

After much tossing and turning, Winry fell asleep. She dreamt she was at her wedding. She looked at the crowd who showed up to her wedding. She first saw her weeping mother and her smiling father. Pinako just puffed on her pipe. She glanced over to the groom's side. Trisha Elric? Who was she marrying? She looked to her side and saw Edward holding her hand. Al stood further to the side. Was he the best man?

It looked like a typical, fairy tale wedding, except for the fact that the bride and groom sat on a step. When the priest pronounced Edward and Winry husband and wife, Edward kissed her on the cheek, in the very same fashion as he had that afternoon. Everyone cheered.

She woke up, feeling sweat itch on her back. She wondered why kisses were suddenly interrupting her sanity.

Winry decided she'd continue playing with the Elrics as usual, but she would not mention the kiss at all. She'd be insane to.

She announced that she was going to visit the Elrics, as she put her shoes on.

"Sure," Pinako said. "Be back before dinner though!"

* * *

After a while, Winry found herself staring at Ed as he was distracted. Her train of thought vanished, though, when Ed sneezed.

Trisha Elric looked at her son and said, "There must be a nice girl somewhere thinking of you!"

Ed seemed to ignore this, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Winry gasped.

Did Ed know that the girl spoken of was right in front of him? Could sneezes really be caused by girls' thoughts? Why had nobody told her sooner? Would Ed find out about her dream?


	3. Chapter 3 It Must be Contagious

**Thanks for the reviews so far, guys! Enjoy the conclusion of this story!**

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Winry's fears were met with more sneezes throughout the evening before she returned home.

This night was less pleasant than the previous. Her bed felt colder, and once again, she could not fall asleep. She was becoming insomniac, thanks to a certain Elric brother. She didn't want to think of Ed, for fear of causing him further illness, but in the process of not thinking of him, her mind clouded with thoughts of him! Winry felt her eyes well up out of aggravation. She hadn't done anything wrong had she? It was all Ed's fault, anyway! He chose to be all charming and chivalrous with that whole kissing thing!

* * *

"I'm going to the Elrics'. I'll be back for dinner!" Winry called over her shoulder, making her way to the front door.

"Sorry, Winry, not today. Trisha said he's ill and needs his rest. She said you could invite Al over, though," said Pinako.

Winry became wracked with guilt. She wondered if she were to blame for Ed's condition.

"Uh, you know, on second thought, I don't feel like playing today." Winry said. "May I instead visit Mrs. Elric for a few minutes?"

Pinako was taken aback at Winry's sudden change, but granted her granddaughter's request.

Winry paced outside the Elrics' front door for a few minutes. She shivered and buried her chin deeper into her wool scarf. She withdrew her hand from her coat pocket and rang the doorbell.

Trisha opened the door, "Hi Winry! Oh, do you want me to get Al? Ed's asleep right n—"

"No! I mean—thanks though. I was wondering, could I maybe talk with _you_?" She asked.

"Of course, come on in! You must be freezing!"

Winry scraped the caked-on snow from her boots and scuffled inside. She sat on the couch and swung her feet as she waited for Trisha to be seated.

Trisha set down some drinks. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" She asked.

"I have this question," Winry mumbled, "it's sort of weird."

"Mm-hmm" Trisha sipped on her drink.

"Well . . . you remember that thing you said? About sneezes?"

Trisha frowned in confusion at this.

Winry continued, "You said that a girl was thinking about Ed. Ed's sick because of me, isn't he? I'm the girl you were talking about!" She resented the fact that she began to sob once more.

Trisha realized what happened. She was touched by the girl's innocence. Trisha got up and sat next to Winry to put her arm around her.

"You've done absolutely nothing wrong! It's sweet that you think of others! Look, it's winter. People get sick this time of year. And you know what? You have my express permission to continue thinking about Ed."

"But, then why did you say that a nice girl—"

"It's an old saying. If I knew you'd be so affected by it, I wouldn't have said it. I'm sorry you feel responsible. But you're not. Hey, you're not the cause of his cold, but how about being the cure of his cold?"

Trisha leaned over and whispered instructions in Winry's ear.

The girl whisked off in the direction of the kitchen, ears pink.

Trisha couldn't suppress her smirk when she realized she was witnessing a girl's first crush unfold.

Winry prepared the glass of tea, just as Trisha prescribed.

She toted the hot beverage over to Ed's bedroom. She hesitated briefly, then knocked on the door.

"Come in" he called.

Winry opened the door.

"Winry? What are you doing here? Mom said I can't play today."

"I know. I didn't come to play. In fact, your mom thought you'd enjoy this," she set the tea down on the nightstand.

"Tea? Doesn't tea have milk in—"

Winry scooped Ed up into an embrace and kissed him on the cheek. She stepped back and couldn't help but think about how cute Embarrassed Ed looked.

He didn't sneeze.

"Good," she said.

Ignoring the puzzled look on Ed's face, Winry scampered out of the room, a smile plastered on her face.

That night, Winry slept well.

* * *

The next day, Ed had recovered from his cold, and he was playing with Al and Winry.

Winry sneezed.

Trisha said "Must be a nice boy thinking of you, Winry," and winked.

Winry smiled. Ed gasped.

* * *

**Awwww, I hope that wasn't too sappy for you. That's it. It's now complete. Hope you enjoyed!**


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